Bean to Barstool

In our first ever guest episode of Bean to Barstool, New Zealand beer and chocolate journalist Luke Owen Smith interviews Phoebe Preuss of Living Koko. They talk about Living Koko's relationship with Samoan cacao farmers and Savai'i Koko. They also discuss Penina, Living Koko's non-alcoholic beer brewed brewed in collaboration with Brewicolo and made with cacao and hopped with Citra, Amarillo, and Ekuanot hops.

I interviewed Luke back in Episode 37 to talk about beer and chocolate in New Zealand, and he’s also shown up on the last couple year end episodes to share his favorite beers and chocolates of 2022 and 2023. In the latter, one of his favorite beers of last year was Penina. I knew I wanted Living Koko on the show, and Luke seemed like the perfect person to make that happen. Enjoy!

You can learn more about Luke Owen Smith here.

You can learn more about Living Koko here.

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Is chocolate really an aphrodisiac?

In this episode of Bean to Barstool Bite Sized we hear from Michele Hauf, author of Lust and Chocolate, a romance novel themed around craft and bean to bar chocolate. With Valentine's Day right around the corner, spend 5 minutes this morning with Michele as she talks about creating the world of her novel about a plucky food reporter tasked with tracking down and reviewing the world’s most coveted chocolate (and maybe, just maybe, falling in love along the way). She also talks about a thoughtful way in which chocolate really might be an aphrodisiac.

You can listen to the entire extended interview with Michele here.

You can orderLust and Chocolatefrom Amazon here.

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Manoa Chocolate in Kailua, Hawaii, makes a variety of single origin bars with beans from farms all around Hawaii, and they also make a range of bars celebrating other crops popular on the islands, like coconut, mango, and passionfruit. Today though we’re going to talk about Manoa’s relationship with craft alcoholic drinks. Manoa makes popular bars made with both rum and whiskey made locally, and they run a wine bar that offers both casual pairing guidance and structured pairings. They’re even working with a local brewery to make a beer made with cacao and then chocolate made with those nibs. All of this, of course, is super interesting to me here on Bean to Barstool, so I sat down recently with founder Dylan Butterbaugh to talk about rum, whiskey, wine, and beer as they relate to Manoa Chocolate.

I can’t wait to hear how that beer and chocolate turn out. If you’re near Kailua, check out Manoa’s wine bar, and please, order some beer. I promise it pairs beautifully with chocolate, and I’ve written an entire zine to prove it, which you can order on the bean to barstool shop.

In the wake of the Maui wildfires in 2023, Manoa also created a special chocolate bar called Support for Maui to raise funds for relief efforts. That bar is still available, so be sure to check it out on manoachocolate.com.

Thanks to Dylan for spending a few minutes with us today, and thanks to all of you for listening. I hope you enjoyed this bonus episode of Bean to Barstool.

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In this episode of Bean to Barstool Bite Sized we hear from Chris Heier, co-founder and head brewer at Half Hitch Brewing in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. At the height of the pandemic when most people were learning to make sourdough bread, Chris was learning how to make bean to bar chocolate. He's one-fourth Trinidadian, and he sourced cacao from Trinidad & Tobago through Meridian Cacao and made chocolate from it. He also made a chocolate Porter with the same cacao, and in this quick episode, Chris tells us about developing that beer and what he learned along the way.

You can listen to my full interview with Chris here.

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I never come away from a conversation with cacao agronomist Sarah Bharath without learning something, and it's probably because Sarah never comes away from anything without learning. Her curiosity and excitement to learn drive the very important work she does working with cacao farmers to better understand the ecosystems of their cacao farms, how to work with the land and its resident microbes, and how to adapt fermentation practices to a changing environment and climate. For Sarah, learning and teaching form a symbiotic relationship, each thriving best in the other’s company.

Sarah’s been on the show twice before, and you can listen to those episodes here:

Episode 55 with Chris Heier of Half-Hitch Brewing
Episode 59 on Cacao Fermentation

In this episode, Sarah and I start out talking about cacao lavado, or unfermented cacao. It’s a perfect example of how Sarah approaches topics: cacao Has to be fermented, right? Sure, except when it doesn’t, and how do we know when that is unless we break an accepted rule and experiment, right?

We then transition to talking more directly about the nature of learning and teaching. A few months ago I wrote a blog post on beantobarstool.com about the cycles of knowledge and confusion that accompany any dedicated effort to learn about something like beer or chocolate, particularly related to the organizational systems that have developed to make sense of both fields.

Listen is as we talk about learning, unlearning, and teaching, and how each informs the others.

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In this episode of Bean to Barstool Bite Sized we hear from Nicole Hewat, the creative mind behind World Tree Chocolate. Nicole is an artist who has created a variety of artwork using cacao and coffee. She published a children’s book about chocolate illustrated with cacao butter-based paintings on glass, and also sells landscape paintings made with paint made from cacao husks and coffee. Listen in as Nicole explains her process for each.

You can learn more about World Tree Chocolate here.

You can listen to my full interview with Nicole here.

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Vanilla is a very familiar flavor for most of us. It’s so ubiquitous, in fact, that the word is used as a pejorative for anything that is commonplace and mundane. But that’s not being fair to this fascinating tropical spice, which can display a wide range of expressive aromas and flavors, and can be used in unique ways throughout world cuisine.

In North America and Europe, vanilla is mostly associated with desserts, pastries, and other sweet treats, to the point that vanilla is often taken to be sweet on its own. That assumption is turned upside down in many other global food traditions however, in which vanilla can be used in savory or spicy dishes. Its heady but gentle profile allows it to work in support of a way variety of others flavors.

And it’s of interest to this podcast because vanilla is used so extensively in craft chocolate and, often, in craft beer as well.

In this episode we explore the flavors and agronomy of vanilla.

We talk with Dr. Alan Chambers from the University of Florida Tropical Research and Education Center. He works with tropical fruit crops to better support growers in southern Florida, and he quickly gained interest and expertise in the science and cultivation of vanilla after taking the position in 2016. He is now a foremost expert in all things vanilla.

We also talk with Sean Buchan, the founder and head brewer at Denver’s Cerebral Brewing. Sean works with a variety of single origin vanillas in his beers to highlight their variety. Here we talk about beers like Vanilla Rye Here Be Monsters and others that serve as liquid tributes to the amazing vanilla orchid.

I hope this episode helps you appreciate how unique and varied vanilla really is. Far from being an avatar for homogeneity, vanilla is a fascinating and diverse spice with a wide range of expressions that reward attention.

In this episode, Sean mentioned working with Ethereal to source cacao for some beers. We interviewed Michael Ervin and Marisa Allen from Ethereal back in Episode 08, which you can listen to it here.

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Today’s episode is a look back at my favorite beers and chocolates of 2023. You’ll also hear from several friends and colleagues in the beer and chocolate worlds who share their own favorites from the last year as well.

Guests include:

Ruvani de Silva (beer writer)
Mandy Naglich (beer writer) - Listen to Mandy & I discuss her new book How to Taste.
Estelle Tracy (chocolate educator) - Listen to Estelle & I discuss pairing chocolate with wine & beer.
Emma Wargolet (beer writer)
Caterina Gallo (chocolate expert)
Luke Owen Smith (beer & chocolate writer) - Listen to Luke & I discuss the New Zealand beer & chocolate scenes.
Shay Pal (chocolate expert) - Listen to Shay & I discuss one of our favorite chocolate bars.
Amanda Camp (beer PR professional)

Click each to read the full lists of my favorite beers, chocolates, & pairings from the past year.

You can listen to previous years' annual favorites episodes here: 2022, 2021, 2020.

The following articles & episodes are mentioned in this episode:
Precious and Grace—Brouwerij Van Steenberge's Tripel Van De Garre
Episode 71: Adam Krantz of Monsoon Chocolate
Episode 30: Nostalgia Chocolate
Cacao Fruit Pulp in Beer
Yellow Springs & Urban Artifact Partner to Benefit Women's Brewing Scholarship

Check out the Bean to Barstool shop to order zines, beer cards & prints, and issues of Final Gravity (and preorder Issue 03 now!)

You can support us on Patreon here.

Happy New Year!

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Monsoon Chocolate is making bean to bar chocolate in the desert climate of Tucson, Arizona. It’s not a region we might think of as a hotspot for craft chocolate, but as founder Adam Krantz explains, the southwest has a strong historical claim to cacao, and he wanted to honor that heritage while also pushing the boundaries of flavor with unique regional ingredients like chiltepin chilis or mesquite.

I love talking with chocolate makers or brewers who are using ingredients and flavors from their region to color outside the lines of tradition, or perhaps more accurately, to erase and redraw those lines. Tradition is not a fixed thing. Norms change. We can expand the guidelines for tomorrow’s makers and tasters by thinking creatively today.

Listen in as we talk with Adam Krantz of Monsoon Chocolate.

Partner businesses mentioned in the episode include Hamilton Distillers/Whiskey Del Bac, Desert Provisions, Santa Ana Pueblo, Uncommon Cacao (listen to my interview with founder Emily Stone), and Meridian Cacao (listen to my interview with agronomist Sarah Bharath).

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Max Gandy, perhaps better known in the craft chocolate world as Dame Cacao, was one of the first chocolate educators I started following on Instagram many years ago now when I was first getting into the scene. With her Dame Cacao website and various podcasts over the years, she’s been a calm and knowledgeable voice within craft chocolate for nearly a decade now. She’s also incredibly well traveled, and has spent time at many cacao origins.

Having Max on the podcast is long overdue, so I reached out to her recently to rectify that wrong. In our conversation, we discussed her journey within craft chocolate, the way going to origin can change our perspectives on chocolate, and what has to happen for the general public to come around to craft chocolate. We also spent some time discussing cacao liquors and other alcoholic beverages made by farmers in different regions.

You can learn more about Max and her work on her website Dame Cacao, and on Instagram & Facebook.

You can learn more about sponsors at their websites:
Beer Scholar
Fifth Street Brewpub

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